Friday, December 24, 2010

St. Clair River Birding

Stack on the Dock!

I made a run along the St. Clair River....a fair number of ducks and gulls along the way. Most gulls were around Cathcart Park north of Sombra. I saw at least five Glaucous there and another two off Lambton Generating Station. I am sure there were more of those, but I did not see an Iceland.

Poor attempt at a Glaucous (what's with this dreary weather all month?)

While at LGS, I caught sight of a Red-necked Grebe with Redhead ducks. The grebe is a rarity for the river, especially this time of year. Steve Charbonneau also saw the grebe later, downriver along with a Double-crested Cormorant to boot!

Gull with fish!﻿

I did not take the time to try and look at every single bird, but Steve also had an adult Thayer's and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The Lesser is likely the same one I had about a month ago since I don't think all those gulls left.
Sarnia had a number of gulls as well, but I only saw two Glaucous.
Long-tailed Ducks are scattered along the river. Strange that previous to last winter, one would rarely see one on the river (south of Sarnia) during winter. It was something notable if you did!

Pair of Long-tailed ﻿

On the way home, this little falcon was perched in a tree near the Sombra Sewage Lagoons.

Still have not seen a Redpoll, although a couple bunches of birds I have seen the last two days in the distance may, have been redpolls.

Sarnia shots:

These Mallards and Mallard types expect you to feed them! There are several white ones at Sarnia.